


Falling

by Yaoi_Girl



Category: Beyblade
Genre: Boys' Love, Confessions, Get Together, M/M, Romance, Shounen-ai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2012-09-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 17:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yaoi_Girl/pseuds/Yaoi_Girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kai lets his mask fall for once while the only person who wants to see the true Kai is sound asleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  
**Disclaimers:** I don't own Beyblade; I'm just using the boys as my puppets!  Enjoy!

 **Notes:** This was originally posted on ff.net, but I've recently re-written the story and decided to post it here now that I'm done with that portion of it.  Now I just have to get chapter 8 done after 5 years... T.T

Falling

It had been there, hanging over their heads all day, threatening to spill at any second; but the storm clouds simply hovered there, hording its precious liquid.  And Rei had never liked storms to begin with.

Takao and Kyouju had returned to Japan two days ago for a month long stay with their families before the team would reunite for their next tournament, whereas Max had stayed in America to spend some more time with his mother after being picked up by a BBA bus earlier that afternoon.

As for Rei and Kai…well, with the storm looming outside, alongside the unbearable humidity, all flights from Florida to anywhere were cancelled.  The storm was said to be turning into a tropical storm and preparing to unleash its torrential downpour any second; any layman could see that just by looking up at the sky.

So with their flights cancelled until the following day, the airport set them up in a hotel for the night.

It wasn’t the fanciest of rooms by any means, but Rei wouldn’t complain; anything to keep his feet dry was fine with him.  Kai, on the other hand, wasn’t too thrilled with it, seeing as it housed only one bed and very little pacing room.  But the hotel was packed with other airline passengers that was also stranded for the time being, so no other rooms were available in this particular hotel, so Kai would have to deal with sharing a bed.

“I’m gonna take a sho…” the raven haired teen began to say as he rummaged around in his duffel bag, silence falling as he noticed the quick flicker of light on the wall Kai was leaning against.  “On second thought, I think I’ll wait.”

“You’re just a scared little kitten,” Kai smirked as he pushed himself off the wall, uncrossing his arms and beginning to strip himself of his shirt, setting the article of clothing next to his own bag and deciding that now probably wouldn’t be the best of times to shower with the storm showing signs of activity.

“Better safe than sorry,” Rei shrugged.  “I’m not getting my ass fried while I’m in there!” he continued as he too began to change into his night clothes, which consisted of nothing more or less than a pair of boxers and a skin tight tank top.

Kai, who was more comfortable sharing a room and bed with Rei than any of the others, opted for just his boxer briefs that hugged his form in all the right places.

“Hey, Kai?”

“Hmm?” he intoned as he folded his clothes up and placed them on the designated ‘dirty clothes’ side of his bag after he had had completely striped down to his ‘sleepwear’.

“Why are you going back to Russia?  I thought you hated it there.”

Kai’s usual frown deepened somewhat at the mention of his homeland.  “I have some things I need to take care of; it’s not like I’m staying there the entire vacation time, just long enough to take care of what I need to.”

“Where are you going after that?” Rei then inquired conversationally, freeing his raven locks from its prison, beginning to brush it as he sat in the middle of the bed with his legs crossed, facing the crimson eyed teen.

Kai shrugged as he zipped up and tossed his bag to the floor, climbing on the bed and snatching the brush from Rei, who promptly turned so his back was to his captain.  He hadn’t figured out why yet, but he had a thing for Rei’s long, silky hair and brushed it as often as he could, and Rei had yet to refuse him this ‘honor’.

“Wherever I feel like going, I suppose,” he finally replied as he began to gently run the brush through Rei’s hair, his fingers of his free hand combing through his hair behind the brush.

“You should come stay with me and see what my home’s really like,” the amber eyed teen suggested with a vague shrug, wincing slightly as a streak of lightning tore through the sky.

“Oh, yeah,” Kai began sarcastically.  “I’m sure Mao and Lee would just love that.”

Rei chuckled at the mental images.

“Ponytail or braid?” Kai then asked as he finished his task of brushing.

Rei then smiled as he focused back on the here and now; it still surprised him that Kai actually knew how to braid hair, let alone be gentle with it.  “Ponytail.  I could always lock you up in my room and they’d never know you were there.”

“Are you gonna shackle me to your bed or something so I can’t escape and go start a fight?” Kai then teased, Rei’s blush at this new mental image going unseen to him as he gently manhandled the long raven tresses through the ponytail holder.

“I might, that is if my mom hasn’t found my leather wrist cuffs,” Rei then laughed, turning to face Kai while tucking his legs under himself once he felt the familiar weight of his hair settled down his back.

“You would be the only one to come up with something like that,” the bluenette smirked, moving his hand up to brush some of Rei’s bangs behind an ear.  Any other time, that being if they were in view of ‘the public’ (the other boys or just anyone in general), Rei would probably brush and not know how to react to the situation with Kai touching his hair like that, but he was used to it when they were alone.  He was glad that his team captain would sometimes partially drop his mask for him, revealing the true teen struggling within.

“But in all seriousness, you should come to China and stay with me.  I’m sure you’d enjoy it.”

“And you’re promising me a place to stay and food while I’m there, right?”

Rei nodded, his smile and eyes brightening; Kai’s mask really was starting to slip.

After that, there really wasn’t anything more to talk about, and so they ended up with a content silence surrounding them while they simply gazed into each other’s eyes, almost as if for the first time.

But that time was short-lived as their gazes then quickly focused to the window at the sound of heavy rain suddenly beating against the glass of the window.

“We should probably get to bed,” Kai yawned shortly after the shock wore off, eying the clock on the nightstand.

Rei nodded then stopped as a shiver ran down his spine; the air conditioner had just kicked back on and the vent was currently aimed at his back.  His natural response to this was finding his way quickly beneath the warm haven of the blanket, curling up against Kai’s bare side as soon as the other teen was also settled beneath the blanket.  Just as Rei was accustomed to Kai playing with his hair, Kai was used to Rei stealing his body heat whenever they shared a bed together.

It wasn’t easy to come by a suite during major tournaments, and spare rooms were also sparse during the events, so whether he liked it or not, Kai was sometimes forced to room with his teammates.  Nine times out of ten he made Max, Takao, and Kyouju share a bed, seeing as they were ‘not so grown up’ or ‘small and childish’ in Kai’s eyes and always pointed out that because he and Rei were older than them that it was only right that they share a bed and that they needed more room.  And usually during those nine times out of ten, Kyouju was found sleeping on the floor the following morning in a huddled ball for warmth thanks to Takao basically taking over the bed with sprawled limbs and kicking people off unintentionally, while Max was found sleeping on whatever space he could manage among the spread out bluenette’s body.  Many a time the other teammates had woken to the sight of Rei curled up against or partially sleeping on Kai in the center of the bed.

Once comfortable, Kai drifted off to sleep, but Rei was eluded of his dreamtime.  However, he did stay curled up against the pale teen beside him, almost as if he really were a kitten.  And in almost being like a cat, he hated water, at least of the pouring rain variety, and storms had always given him the chills, thus his sleep elusion.

With heavy and sleep deprived eyes, he turned so that he could stare outside, his head using Kai’s chest as a pillow for the time being, wincing every time a lightning bolt tore through the sky and would shiver in fear as the thunder erupted shortly after.

For hours the neko-jin remained awake, the air conditioner having kicked off for a short break and the room heating slight.  The temperature that now surrounded him was comfortable, but the added heat from Kai’s body began to irritate him as a thin layer of sweat began to form between their touching skin.  With a sigh, not really wanting to move, the raven haired teen pushed aside his blanket and slid from the bed, padding to the window.  He had decided that he was going to at least attempt to calm his fear of storms, if not conquer it altogether.

‘It’s so beautiful, yet frightening at the same time,’ he mused as he perched himself on the window seat.  And there he sat for who knows how long, simply staring and thinking.

When he felt that his fear had subsided enough for him to go back to sleep, he turned to slide off the seat, freezing when he came face to face with Kai.

“How…how long have you been standing there?!” Rei managed around his shock.

Kai smirked , uncrossing his arms as Rei continued to slide down to the floor from the window.  “Just a few minutes; the bed was getting cold.”

“Oh,” Rei smiled weakly, adverting his gaze as a small blush dusted his cheeks.  “Well, I’m headed back to bed now,” he said, his eyes drooping as sleep began to win him over.

Without warning, Rei was lifted easily off his feet, the sudden and unexpected movement waking him a bit until he was nestled comfortably in Kai’s embrace.

“Are you sleepwalking or something?  Dreaming of me as a girl?” the amber eyed ten murmured against Kai’s neck as he carried Rei across the small distance of the room to the bed, where he gently laid him down.

“Why do you think that?” Kai asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed, turning his body sideways so that he was spilling partially over Rei.

“You wouldn’t carry a guy, let alone me, like that unless you’re dreaming, right?” he yawned cutely, blinking barely open tired eyes up at him.

“I just did, didn’t I?”

“But why?” he breathed, his voice barely audible as he drifted closer and closer to sleep with each rise and fall of his chest.

“Just sleep,” Kai replied softly, kissing the teen on the forehead, his mask totally gone for the time being.

But Rei didn’t get to see it; he was already sound asleep.

The truth was Kai didn’t answer to Rei’s question other than he simply felt the urge to carry him.  But that would cause a mess of questions if he told the sleeping youth that, and he himself didn’t have enough answers to his own questions about his actions with Rei.

Though he did have a answer that satisfied his mind for the time being.

“I think I’m falling for you,” he whispered after he, too, had crawled back under the covers, wrapping his arms around Rei’s slender body before joining him in a realm of peaceful slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It was in the early morning hours, much too early though to be woken by the sun or to even think about crawling out of bed, but Kai’s eyelids furrowed in pain in his sleep before he slowly opened them.

His chest hurt, not like a heart attack pain or anything of that sort, but the pain of fingernails being dragged slowly across flesh by a still sleeping Rei.

Kai sat up, propping himself up on his elbows, Rei’s head rolling slightly down from his shoulder as he moved, his fingernails still digging roughly into Kai’s skin.  The red and raised flesh was trailing from the bluenette’s chest and heading diagonally down to his stomach.  And the lower Rei’s fingers travelled, the more pressure was applied until Kai snatched the teen’s hand from his skin, wincing as blood began to seep out of some of the lower wounds and began to sting.

No sooner than Kai had grabbed Rei’s wrist, the boy tensed and tried move away, whimpering and fighting slightly though he was still sound asleep.  And seeing Rei like this tore at Kai’s heart; he released his gentle grip on the teen and moved him completely off his body, reaching for a tissue or something handy to dab up the trace amounts of blood on his stomach.

He figured that Rei would wake up shortly on his own since he no longer had Kai’s body heat; the raven haired teen often woke shortly after Kai would leave the bed, be it Kai leaving for a drink of water in the middle of the night or whatnot, and couldn’t fall back asleep until he was warmed once again.

After the blood was wiped away, he noticed that Rei was still asleep and acting a little weird, like he was still having some sort of nightmare.  So Kai decided to try and wake him by gently calling his name, only to gain no response, and then he shook him, also getting nothing but another whimper and a slight flinch.

With a sigh, Kai gathered the teen to his chest, resting Rei’s head beneath his chin as he cradled him on his lap.

“Kai,” came a breath against the bluenette’s chest before a gentle finger trailed down one of the scratch marks a few moments later.  “I’m sorry.”-

The feeling of Rei’s finger just lightly touching him was driving him insane, not that he didn’t like it mind you, but he didn’t want to upset Rei by telling him to stop because he was sure it would come out harshly, and he feared what the outcome would be if he let Rei continue touch him.  So, instead, he laced his fingers with the amber eyed teen’s.

“It’s fine, Rei.  You were having a bad dream.”

“But still, I feel bad,” he replied as he pulled his head up from Kai’s warm chest, revealing still tired eyes to the bluenette.

“I’m not going to die from this,” he smirked.

“That may be, but I still feel bad because I hurt you,” Rei then said as he lowered his forehead to the other teen’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around Kai’s pale neck.

“You think this can compare to anything I’ve been through?” Kai asked, his voice low and distant.

Rei knew that Kai was referring to his time at the abbey and didn’t want to say anything to further upset his friend, so he simply tightened his arms around him in sympathy while tears began to sting his eyes.

“Rei, don’t cry for me; I’m not worth it,” the Russian said in the same tone as before soon after he felt the warm water droplets on his skin, tickling their way down his back and chest.

“Don’t say that!” was the somewhat angered response as Rei snapped his head up once more to face Kai, his arms still tight around his shoulders.

The bluenette smiled faintly, though his eyes seemed dead at the moment, as he reached up and brushed a tear away from Rei’s cheek.  “Now I’ve hurt you.”  For a few minutes their eyes danced back and forth, both seemingly searching for something in the other’s soul.  “Why do you care about me?”

“You’re my friend, Kai.”

“Friend…”  His eyes once again seemed to focus beyond Rei into nothingness as he stayed silent for a few moments.  “I’ve never had any real friends until I met you guys, and I…I’m still not sure that I like having them…”

“What?” was all the raven haired teen could manage, that simple word coming out in a mere breath of disbelief while his arms fell limp and began to slide down from Kai’s shoulders.

“I don’t like depending on other people.”

Rei was furious.  How could Kai say such things?

“You’re such a selfish bast…” Rei began rather darkly, stopping as one of Kai’s fingers covered his lips.

“But,” he continued, once again looking into Rei’s slightly reddened eyes, “I am depending on you guys.  I’m depending on you all to help want to keep my friends.  And I want to you to teach me…” he stopped, his mask gone once again as he suddenly looked away from Rei, seemingly flustered as he swallowed what he was about to admit.  He vaguely worried that Rei would push the subject and that he’d have no choice but to tell him; he didn’t like to lie to Rei.  He had already done quite a bit of damage to the Chinese youth during this small of a conversation.

However, Rei didn’t push the subject of what he was going to say, his amber eyes alight and forgiving at the rare sight of Kai without his mask.  This is what he had been longing to see: the real Kai, full of worries, doubts, and every other human quality that he himself possessed.

And as much as Rei wanted to see this side of his best friend, sleep was winning him over once more, and after a cat-like yawn, the neko-jin gently pressed against Kai’s shoulders in a silent command to lay back down while he tucked his head beneath Kai’s chin.

The crimson eyed teen obliged and wrapped his arms around Rei as he leaned back slowly, pulling the covers back over their bodies once his head met the pillow.  He understood that Rei wasn’t finished talking and would likely want to continue this discussion in the morning, and that was fine because now he had some time to think.

The time ticked on slowly and Kai could’ve sworn that Rei had finally fallen back asleep as the other hadn’t moved from his position since they had laid back down, but was rather surprised to find that he was, in fact, still very much awake.

“What’s wrong?” Rei murmured, his ear having been pressed over Kai’s heart, his hand moving gently down Kai’s chest, just barely tickling his skin in a good way.  “Your heart’s beating so fast…”

“I just woke up from a nightmare,” he lied.

And Rei saw right through it.  With a hint of laughter in his tired voice he simply said, “Go to sleep.”

‘He’ll find out on his own soon if I don’t tell him first,’ Kai thought as he gently ran a hand through the soft raven locks, gently massaging Rei’s head.  His heart had been beating so fast because he had been daydreaming about the time and place he’d tell Rei his secret.

xoxoxox

“Nngh…” Rei groaned as he stretched the next morning.  “I’m so tired!” he then complained as he and Kai dragged their tired bodies onto the plane.

The storm had decided that one night was enough, almost as if it had a hand in playing out what had happened between the pair last night and was satisfied with the results.

“And whose fault is that?” Kai yawned as he plopped into his window seat, Rei practically lying down across the two seats to curl up to the Russian in an attempt to get some more rest. 

The pair had to travel to California and China together, and then Kai would switch planes one last time to continue on his way to Russia, so he would have plenty of body heat leeching time.

“The storms!” he mumbled as he snuggled his head into Kai’s shoulder.

“Go to sleep,” Kai grumbled as a flight attendant walked past them, smiling at them.

“More than happy to.”  And with that, he proceed to catch some Z’s after buckling in.

In the mad dash they had made that morning in order to get to the airport on time, as in gathering their bags and showering, Rei didn’t have time to put his hair it a binder or braid, so he had opted for a ponytail, which also didn’t happen.

Kai smiled faintly as that part of the morning played through his mind: Rei dashing from the hotel room with his bag in one hand, his hair held up in a ponytail in the other and a hair tie resting between his lips.  Rei had completely given up on putting his hair up in any fashion by the time they descended five flights of stairs, the elevators being packed due to everyone trying to get to the airport.

So now Kai got to thoroughly enjoy the rare sight of Rei with his hair completely free.

The Russian, for sure, had thought as they trotted through the busy airport a short time ago that Rei would’ve heard what people around them were saying as they passed.  Granted, none of what he himself had heard was bad, just embarrassing, more so for the people that didn’t know Rei was a guy, mistaking him for an oriental girl with his long raven hair.  If Rei _had_ heard anything, he said nothing.

‘Look at them!  They’re such a cute couple!’

‘I’d _die_ to have hair like hers!’

Those were the common two comments that his ears had picked up, alongside a few other odd ones that the bluenette didn’t care to recall, and then the occasional beyblade fan that _knew_ it was Rei and no some girl trying to keep up with a jogging Kai.

‘Can you believe that they’re together like that without the rest of their team?!  I wonder if they’re secretly going out or something?’  He replayed this particular event over in his head several times, the look of pure bliss on the fangirl’s faces fresh in his mind at the prospect of he and Rei together.

He could see the rumors flying already.  If only they could be true…

For several hours Kai was in wonderland, daydreaming of none other than himself and Rei until he was bounced slightly out of his chair, the sudden movement jarring the raven haired teen from his sleep.

“Wha…” he mumbled, sitting up straight and rubbing his eyes.  “What’s going on?”  He then began to stretch his arms over his head, though they locked on their journey upward  as he was abruptly thrown forward.

And his face would have collided with the back of the seat in front of him had it not been for Kai’s quick reflexes; Kai had managed to move enough with his seatbelt restraining him to wrap both arms around the neko-jin and pull him to his lap.

“You alright?” Kai grunted as the rave haired, and slightly shaken up, teen slid from Kai’s lap and back into his own seat, quickly fastening his seatbelt as they were instructed to do.

Turbulence was also something else that Rei feared, especially when he was high in the sky and helpless if something did happen to the plane.  He hated falling, hated the feeling it caused in the pit of his stomach, although roller coasters never bothered him this much; in fact, he rather liked roller coasters.  It was, in fact, any type of falling that he wasn’t expecting that he feared the most.

It was smooth for a minute or two until a sharp gust jostled the plane, Rei’s fingers finding and lacing with Kai’s out of fear, his other hand clawing at the armrest as he stared dead ahead into nothingness.

“It’ll be fine,” Kai soothed as he gave the teen’s hand a gentle squeeze, his crimson eyes calm and assuring as their gazes locked.  He hated the pure terror he found residing in those gorgeous amber eyes at that very moment.

The plane jerked violently a few time shortly after those words of comfort, screams erupting from some of the other frightened passengers as well as Rei, who now had had his eyes screwed tightly shut, squeezing Kai’s hand and the armrest until his knuckles were white; Kai was sure his hand would be crushed if this continued on much longer.  Thankfully it didn’t.  Just one more harsh jerk then a couple small shakes before everything steadied back out.

Once he realized that it was safe, at least for the time being, Rei slowly, shakily released his hand from Kai’s and the armrest, his breathing heavy and labored from the fear and adrenaline coursing through his body while his eyes were wide with a hint of fear still visible to the world, although he had once again taken to staring at the seat in front of him blankly.

“Rei, are you alright?”

Rei swallowed his uneasiness and blinked slowly a few times before finally turning to face Kai with a small, very small, smile.  “I’ll be alright…I think…”

xoxoxox

The rest of the flight had gone smoothly, and after the whole turbulence incident, Rei had opted for staying awake.

They were now standing silently facing each other in a Chinese airport.

“So, um…” Rei began, wanting to break the awkward silence.  “How long until your flight leaves?”

“Twenty minutes,” he replied, glancing anywhere but at Rei.

Rei nodded and absently rubbed his right arm with his left hand, his gaze locked to the carpet, almost shyly.

And there they stood.  Kai looking around at the passersby, occasionally glancing to Rei, while the neko-jin had taken to looking at his shoes.

This was going to hurt, even though he would only be away from Rei a couple days, a week at most.  Rei, on the other hand, simply felt odd about the situation, but he couldn’t figure out why he felt the way he did.  Any other time, he and the rest of the team would love to ship him off to some remote country to terrorize the natives about beyblading perfectly and the like, but this was different; Kai’s mask was off, so he didn’t know how to react.

As they stood there in their awkward silence, shuffling and shifting about idly, Rei’s ears began to pick up the sound of impending doom, otherwise known as his little sister.

“Rei!  REI!!!”

Once she was closer, Kai could hear her too, and so both turned to face the girl running towards them at full speed, the raven haired teen having miscalculated how close she actually was by sound alone and nearly missed getting his arms open wide enough to receive her hug.

“Kalli,” he chuckled, returning his younger sister’s embrace with enthusiasm, soon glancing over her head to his approaching mother.  “Mom!”

Kai watched from the sidelines as the family happily greeted one another, a stab of jealousy filing his heart at the sight; how he had always longed for a family and normal life…

“Mom, Kalli, this is Kai,” Rei said a few moments later as he shuffled the few steps to his captain, all the while prying his clingy sister from his arm, before wrapping an arm around Kai’s shoulders.  “He’s the BladeBreaker’s team captain.”

“Isn’t that the guy you call a je…OW!!!  Rei,” Kalli pouted, as she had been too near her brother as she said this and he had reached out, pinching her upper arm in a successful attempt to sidetrack her words.  “I mean, nice to meet you, Kai!  I’m Kalli!” she then chirped as though nothing had happened just moments ago.

She was shorter than Rei and only came up to his shoulders, up to his chin on tip-toes, and also had those alluring amber eyes, long raven hair (her hair up in buns on either side of her head), and adorned in her native robes.

Rei’s mother then smiled down at Kai as she walked up to properly greet him.

‘She looks nothing like them,’ he mused as he returned an awkward smile.  ‘Brown hair and green eyes…they must’ve got their hair and eye color from their father,’ he mused.

Rei’s mother was a few inches taller than her son, her brown hair probably coming to just below her native clothed bottom (as it was up in a thick braid that stopped at the small of her back).

“I’m Mika,” she greeted, offering her hand to Kai’s in a handshake; the Russian was slightly taken aback that she hadn’t bowed, but greeted him like this.  “And if you haven’t already gathered, I’m Rei and Kalli’s mother,” she then giggled as she stepped back.  She looked really young for her age too; to Kai, she appeared to be in her twenties, which he knew she had to be at least in her thirties.

He decided that he liked her, idly noting that this may only be because his mask wasn’t in place; had it been…well, he wasn’t sure.

“Hey, mom, is it alright if Kai stays with us after he gets back from Russia in a few days?” Rei then turned to his mother, pulling off adorable kitten eyes.

“I suppose,” she teased at seeing the expression, hands on her hips to add to the sarcastic tone.

“Great!” Rei grinned, turning and taking both of Kai’s hands in his own in excitement.  “Call when you’re leaving your airport headed back so we’ll know when to come pick you up, alright?”

“Yeah, sure,” he smiled back, his senses lost as his world narrowed down to only him and Rei at that moment.  Sadly, it was a short lived moment as Kai’s plane was now beginning to board.

Before Kai had a chance to turn and walk in that general direction, Rei had gathered him into a hug, burying his face in Kai’s chest.  The bluenette simply blushed at the unexpected action and the people now walking by and eyeing them strangely.

“Promise me something, Kai,” the amber eyed teen said as they were nearly released from the other warm body.  “Call me every night so that I know nothing bad has happened to you, alright?”

The bluenette simply nodded with a Kai-ish grunt of acknowledgement before he headed off into the crowds of quickly moving people to his plane boarding area.

“Wow,” Kalli whistled from beside her brother with a shit eating grin on her face, hands on her hips as she leaned towards her brother with mischievous eyes.  “You send us letters calling him a jerk and other mean things, yet you failed to mention that you’re going out with him?!” she then teased as they all three began walking towards the exit of the airport.

“We’re not dating!” Rei said, blushing at the thought, as both his mother and sister giggled like the females they were at the sight of the flustered teen.

‘You may not be now,’ Kalli thought as she climbed into the back seat of their vehicle.  ‘But I have a feeling that you will be soon…’


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

‘It’s great to finally be home!’ Rei mused as he inhaled the smell of his house that he hadn’t seen or been in in ages.  His mind then turned to Kai, worry flooding his mind as he didn’t know how Kai would fair back in his home.  He knew that Kai and his grandfather, sadly his only known living relative and an asshole to boot, weren’t on good terms and feared that the older man would harm Kai.

Once he had sat his clothing bag down next to his shoes just inside the door and his attention once again focused on being home, he grumbled as he flicked his now soggy bangs from his face (he had finally pulled his hair up in a ponytail at the airport shortly after landing), lazily climbing the stairs with his journal tucked under his arm.  All the way up he growled and grumbled about the rain that had decided to haunt him on the ride home.

After reaching his room and noticing that it was still intact (Kalli had a bad habit of rearranging his room when she was insanely bored), he kicked his door shut and tossed his journal on his bed before peeling his wet and clingy shirt from his tanned skin, goosebumps rising rapidly on his skin as the cold air of his room met his damp body.

‘Kai can take care of himself,’ he tried to convince himself as he set to work wiggling out of his wet jeans and underwear.  “Besides,” he began aloud as he dried off, putting on a fresh set of clothes that he hadn’t worn in a long time from his closet, “he’s supposed to call and let me know he’s okay; if something were wrong, he’d tell me or ask for help, right?”

“You talkin’ ‘bout your boyfriend?” came a singsong voice from his now opened door.

“Shut up, Kalli!” he hissed.  “Why are you in my room?  And without knocking?!”

She shrugged, smiling as she entered anyway.  “Just wanted to see if you needed any help getting settled in.”

He gave her one of those blank stares that also hinted at ‘tell the truth; why are you really here?’ as he lazily crossed his arms over his chest.

“What?  Can’t I spend some time with my big brother?”

“Fine,” he sighed in defeat.  Sure, Kalli was annoying at times, as all younger siblings are, especially when he just wanted some alone time and to relax.  Besides, he hadn’t seen her in what, almost a year?

“So,” came that singsong voice again as she sat on the edge of his bed.  “If you two aren’t go…”

“Kalli,” he hissed low in warning, glowering at her as his irises turned to slits to show how serious he was.  “If you only going to ask about Kai and our ‘relationship’, you can just leave now.”

“It’s not like was gonna ask if I could have him,” she smiled innocently, seemingly ignoring her brother’s words as she flopped stomach down on his bed, propping her chin in her palms with her feet swinging back and forth over her back.  “I just wanted to know what was going on between you two.”

“We’re just friends, okay?” he huffed, sighing irritably right afterward while he grabbed for his TV remote off his dresser.

“But you want to be more?”

At this, Rei rolled his eyes as he shuffled over to his neglected beanbag chair.  “Yeah, right, and I’m sure he’d take me with open arms.”

“How would you know if you haven’t tried?”

“I was being sarcastic,” he replied monotonously as he flipped through the channels.

Kalli then rolled over onto her back and scooted herself down so that she was hanging halfway upside down off the end of his bed.

“So you’re saying you’re not the tiniest bit interested in him?”

Oh, how he wanted nothing more than to grab her by the hair and slam her head into the floor, or no…drag her down the hall by her hair while she kicked and screamed and then bloody _her_ carpet.  Then he would most certainly have to face his mother…

“I told you,” he growled once more as he squeezed the remote tightly.  “If all you’re going to talk about…”

“…is Kai, then leave,” she mocked before pulling herself back onto the bed, now lying to face the TV with a sigh.  “This is _so_ boring!  I thought older brothers were supposed to be fun!”

“If you don’t like it, then get out,” he shrugged, setting the remote on his stomach once he had found something to hold his attention.

The girl sighed loudly, her eyes lazily drifting over the room that had practically been seals off from humanity since her brother had left.  Her eyes finally found something of interest to look at…

Glancing to her brother with her lips pursed, she reached her hand out slowly and wrapped her fingers around something from his pillow, bringing said something to lay in front of her before she opened it and began to flip through the pages quietly until she seen the name ‘Kai’ appear.

‘Nothing of interest here,’ she mentally sighed; it was a journal entry from when the team had first met.  Surely her brother had more entertaining things to read…

For at least fifteen minutes, she skimmed through the thin book before something rather interesting caught her eye.

“Who is this?”

“What are you ta…?  KALLI!  Why are you reading that?!” he yelped as he shot up off the beanbag chair, quickly snatching the journal he had carelessly tossed on his bed earlier away from his sister.

She shrugged carelessly.  “I wasn’t really reading it; I was looking at the pictures.”

“I don’t care!  I don’t go around reading your things!” he whined helplessly as he dropped back to his comfortable haven, opening his journal to the picture she was asking about just out of curiosity.  “It’s me and Kai.”

“How was I supposed to know what you look like with your hair completely down?  You never wore it even in a ponytail at home; always in a binding…” she said, turning her full attention to her brother.  “I thought maybe you were jealous of Kai’s girlfriend or something and you chased after them, taking a picture so you knew what she looked like so you could stalk her and get her away from Kai forever,” she then went on, sitting up and stretching.

“He’s never had a girlfriend; if he has, he’s never mentioned it to anyone.  And you let your imagination play too much,” he sighed as he closed the journal and set it aside.

“I’m young and supposed to have an active imagination!” the eleven year old girl grinned triumphantly as she stood up on the mattress, he hands on her hips as if to say ‘I’m the almighty powerful one!’

Rei couldn’t help but grin and shake his head at her.

“So, are you?” she then asked.

“Am I what?”

“Interested at him at all?”

He frowned and rolled his eyes, looking to the other side of the room, deciding to answer in hopes that she would leave once she was satisfied.

“A little, and I mean very little.”

It was her turn to give one of the ‘tell the truth’ looks from her standing position atop Rei’s mattress, the freshly made bedclothes now rumpled slightly beneath her.

“It’s true!” Rei said as he finally looked to his silent sister.  “It may seem like I like him quite a bit, but he’s…just not my type, I guess,” he sighed, running a hand through his mostly dried bangs.  He didn’t even fully understand the situation himself with Kai.  “I’m just closer to him than I am the other guys, so a lot of people make that assumption about us.”

“And just who is this ‘lot of people’?”

The male neko-jin blushed faintly as he again focused on the TV.  “Like people at the airport, and even Max is convinced that we have something going on…but that’s because we usually share a bed since Kyouju snores, Max is a cover hog, and Takao doesn’t leave anything for you to sleep on!” he rambled, not noticing his sister’s knowing smile.

“Do you cuddle up to him?” she then grinned evilly as she bounced on his bed, putting her legs straight out in front of her before her bottom came in contact with the navy blue comforter; Rei was surprised that his bed frame hadn’t come flying apart from her impact.

“Do you have to know everything?!  I told you, there’s nothing between us other than friendship!” he growled in irritation, not only from the questions but from his sister’s antics.

“I knew it!” she crowed excitedly, knowing she was right as he had dodged the question.  “You do!”

“So what if I do?” he grumbled.  I get cold at night and he shares his body heat,” he shrugged, trying to sound uninterested so his sister would hopefully take the hint to stop this conversation.

After he admitted this, he could see his sister’s eyes light up with images in her mind of the pair in bed together.

“You are such a pervert for your age,” he said, turning his head quickly to the doorway as his mother appeared in it, holing the phone out to him.

“I believe this is the call you’ve been waiting for?” she smiled as she walked a few steps into the room to meet her son before leaving, beckoning for her daughter to follow, who did so reluctantly.

“Hello?” he asked, unsure if it was who he had been expecting to call as his mother hadn’t seemed entirely sure either.  For all he knew, it could be Lee or Mao, or even another one of his teammates checking in with their mother hen.

“You miss me yet?” was the rather uncharacteristic response, to which Rei smiled as he turned his TV off.

Rei pretended to hum in thought before he answered.  “Maybe a little; do you miss me?” he played along, though it was a little awkward seeing as it was Kai.

‘You have no idea how much,’ he thought with a small smile tugging his lips.

“Not really.”

“Jerk,” the raven haired teen laughed.  “Did you just land?”

“Yeah; I’m still waiting for my ride.”

“Are you worried?”

“Not really.  I just hope I can manage to make it back to you in once piece thought; I heard he’s not to thrilled with my coming home unannounced.”

“If you don’t make it back in one piece, I’m sure we’ve got some duct-tape lying around somewhere,” Rei teased, receiving a ‘hn’ in response.  “I know, I shouldn’t be saying things like that, seeing as it is your  grandfather…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Both sighed; Rei knew that Kai was currently safe, but had nothing else to really ask or say to him, and Kai had kept his end of the deal so far with calling him to announce his safety.  Neither wanted to hang up, wanting to hear the other’s voice despite the fact that neither of them said a word.

“So…I guess you need to watch for your ride?” the neko-jin asked, wincing in distaste of his own words and uncertain voice.

“Yeah; I probably better go.  I’ll talk to you later tonight or tomorrow for sure.”

“I’ll be waiting,” he said before the other end of the line was disconnected.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Kai was very pleased with his 3 a.m. arrival to Russia; he hadn’t really planned the times, just picked the flight with the closest departure time with his arrival in China.

Once he had hung up with Rei, Kai picked up his duffel bag and headed for the pick-up terminal to wait for his ride in the chilly Russian night.  He actually kind of missed his home, or rather his homeland, not his actual residence.

“May I take your bag, Master Kai?” came an older male voice from his right, Kai jumping slightly from having been startled from his thoughts before turning to his chauffeur, who was smiling warmly down at him.

“No, thanks; I’ve got it,” he replied as the back door of his private vehicle was opened for him.

Once he was settled inside and the driver climbed into his own seat behind the wheel, the older man glanced back to his young master in the rearview mirror.  “I take it that you won’t be staying the night at the mansion?”

“No; I just need to grab some things from my room.”

“I see.  So you will need a ride to a hotel, then, Master Kai?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.  I know it’s late…”

“Not at all, Master Kai,” the driver smiled sincerely as they exited the airport parking area.

There were very few people that worked for his grandfather that Kai actually trusted let alone liked.  This driver just so happened to be one of those few.  He was very glad that he had been the one to pick him up; had it been another driver, they would have made sure that he stayed at the mansion at all costs.

The bluenette had forgotten just how far from the airport to the mansion was, nearly an hour and a half drive.  If he didn’t get there soon, his grandfather would be awake and waiting for him, his chances of escape then diminishing greatly.

“Is something troubling you, sir?”

“Not really.”

“You seem rather tense about something.”

“It’s just that I don’t want to see him; I know how upset he must be about my being home.”

“I see, but it still seems that there’s something else on your mind.  I’ve seen how you’ve acted around your grandfather since you were small; this is a different kind of tense about you.”

“It’s more of a someone than something…” he admitted as he rested his chin in his palm, staring out the window into the snowy darkness.

“So young Master Kai has finally found someone!” the driver more or less said to himself with a smile, knowing how Kai was about his emotions.

At this, even Kai found his lips twitching upwards slightly.

“So, when do I get to meet this lucky young girl?” the driver then teased at noticing Kai’s slight change in facial expression.

All traces of a smile that had just graced Kai’s lips vanished as his head lifted from his hand and his crimson eyes widening in shock.  This driver had never been this blunt before.

“What’s the matter, Master Kai?  You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The bluenette shook himself from his stupor as he then took to staring quizzically at his now laughing driver.

“So the rumors are true about you being with your fellow teammate, I see?”

“What?!”

“Is the young Chinese lad not the one then?”

“How did you hear about that?!”

“Rumor has it that you were seen with one of your teammates, hugging and holding hands in an airport just yesterday.

Kai sighed, slumping back deeply into his seat with a hand covering his eyes.

“He is the one, but…” he sighed, trailing his hand down his face.  “It’s not mutual; he sees us as nothing more than friends.”

“So you’ve finally found a true love other than blading, I take it?”

Kai’s gaze once more turned to the window.  “Does grandfather know of this rumor?”

“I’m not sure; Yuriy had called earlier to see if you had arrived yet and had informed the staff member that had answered the phone about what he had heard from a friend in China.”

“That loudmouth…” Kai growled under his breath.  That damned red head was going to die slowly and painfully…

“What are you going to do if your grandfather asks?”

“I’ll tell him it’s just a rumor and act like the cold hearted bastard that I am,” Kai shrugged, sounding disinterested.

They were now pulling up to the large, snow covered mansion.

“You have ten minutes to get your things before his normal wake up schedule.  Can you manage to gather everything in that amount of time?” the driver then asked as he parked in front of the huge double doors.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” the crimson eyed teen said as he got out of the vehicle as quietly as possible, running up the steps a few moments later and into the huge house.

Since it was close to his grandfather’s wake up time, the maids and housekeepers were preparing for the day, and so most of them were in the kitchen or readying themselves outside their master’s room.   Therefore, Kai had no problem in sneaking up to his room.

When he quietly edged open his door and slid inside, he frowned at the state of his room.  To say his grandfather was simply upset about him coming home was an understatement.  His mattress and bedclothes were on the floor with a rip down the middle, his curtains torn down, papers scattered throughout the room, pictures torn and frames shattered.

He was just glad that his grandfather didn’t know about his little hiding place for important things, like the paperwork that he had come here for along with a ring and necklace that his mother had left for him when she had passed away a few years before.

With his important items and clean clothes in hand, Kai quickly made his escape back to the vehicle.

xoxoxox

“If you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to call,” the chauffeur said as he held the back door open for Kai at a hotel just inside the city.  “And good luck with your special someone,” he smiled as he closed the door once Kai was making his way inside.

They then exchanged brief farewells before Kai disappeared inside, renting a suite for the next few days and locked himself inside.

Because of the jet lag and just being up and stressed out in general, Kai was exhausted and so crashed on the bed for several hours, waking up late in the afternoon.  He then decided he should eat something, and so ordered some room service and made a phone call while he waited.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Kai!” Rei cried out excitedly.  “I was taking a nap, but it’s no big deal!”

“You don’t have to worry about me getting there all mangled; I got everything I needed this morning and I’m hiding out at a hotel until all my paperwork is done.  Once everything is turned over to the right places, I’ll be on the next flight to China.”

The neko-jin couldn’t help but smile sleepily at hearing this.  “That’s good to hear.”

“Since you know I’m safe now, do you want me to keep calling to let you know I’m alive?”

For some reason, it hurt Rei to hear Kai asked something like that, though that was their arrangement.

“If you want to…”

“What’s wrong?” Kai sighed as he shifted his phone to his other ear.

“I can’t really describe it,” Rei sighed, rolling onto his other side on his bed and also switching ears.  “I want you to call, but there’s really no reason for you to because I know you’re totally safe.  We agreed that…”

“I know what I promised, Rei, but I’m asking you if you want me to call you or not.”

“Yes.”  And before Rei could stop himself, that one word had so desperately came spilling from his mouth.  “I…I mean, only if you feel the need to call and let me know something!” he then hurriedly blurted out to cover his embarrassment.

The sudden change of Rei’s tone confused Kai somewhat, but he opted for not pointing it out.

“Well then, I’m going to get started on this stuff, so I’ll call whenever I can.”

“Alright,” Rei said, stifling a yawn.  “Then I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah.  Bye,” Kai said softly, not really wanting to hang up.

“Bye,” the raven haired teen replied just as faintly before pushing the end call button, setting the phone aside.  “What’s wrong with me?!” he then groaned before burying his face in his pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Despite the fact that he was confused about what was going on inside him, Rei had just added to his inner turmoil by telling a small white lie.

He hadn’t been able to sleep a wink since his departure with the bluenette, not even for a cat nap.

Not to mention how he was scared beyond anything he could recall that somehow, over the many tournaments and competitions, he had become addicted, so to speak, of Kai’s body heat.  The Russian had become something of a giant teddy bear, if you will, that he couldn’t sleep without.

And his mother had been noticing her son’s rather odd behavior as of late.

Mika, being the caring and worrisome mother that she was, stopped by her son’s room on her way to bed some hours later after the phone call.

She didn’t have to open the door very far to see just how tired her son was; though his bedroom light was off, she could see clear as day from the hallway light his sleep deprived eyes as he lay there facing the door on his stomach with his arms tucked beneath his chest.

He had known his mother was coming, but he didn’t in the slightest try to cover up his sleepiness by jumping up and acting wide awake or rolling over to act like he was asleep; that’s just how drained he was.

“Honey,” Mika smiled sympathetically as she entered his room, sitting on the edge of his bed.  She then brushed some of his bangs behind his ear with a sigh as she stared down at him.  “What’s been bothering you lately?  Nightmares?”

“No,” he said, barely above a hoarse whisper.  “Just things…”

“Have you even slept at all since you’ve been home.”

He lazily, barely even moving at all, shook his head against the pillow.  “Not since Kai left.”

“Rei, are you worried about him?” she asked as she stroked his cheek with the back of her hand.

He closed his eyes against the motherly touch, noting how much he had missed it.  “Yes.”

“So much that you can’t sleep?”

“No.”

She knew he son was exhausted and that she would more than likely have to play twenty questions to make sense of Rei’s behavior.  And knowing that it had to do with Kai made it somewhat easier.

“Are you worried that he’s going to find someone else while he’s home?”

“What do you mean someone else?  He doesn’t even have anyone right now…”

“Oh, I really had assumed that you two were…”

“Yeah, right; as if Kai would date a guy.  Besides,” he responded in an actual voice rather than in whispers and breaths like before, his eyes a little more awake.  “I don’t even like him like that; at least, not enough to want to have a relationship with him.”

“I think you’re afraid of getting hurt, so you’re not trying to follow what your heart tells you.”

“Of course I’m afraid of getting hurt, who isn’t?  But it’s not just that…I don’t want to be looked at like a freak.”

“What’s so freakish about dating another guy?  Honestly, Rei?” Mika sighed as she stood, moving to her knees beside the bed so that she was now eye level with her son, gently cupping his cheek with her warm hand.  “Tell me.”

“It’s just not right…not normal.”

“As long as you’re happy, what make a difference?” she smiled gently.

“Knowing that…”

“Rei,” she cut in, knowing her son wasn’t seeing the situation as she was, as it should be seen.  “Is it wrong to love something that’s not human?”

“No, I guess not.  But people look at those people like freaks.”

“Then most people are freak by your standards then because a lot of people have animals that they love with all their heart, do they not?”

“People love animals like children, not lovers, mom.”

“It doesn’t matter; love is love.  So what if people look at you differently?  You will still be you.  If the people around you are your true friends, they’ll stick by you, no matter what.  And since when have you ever cared what people thought about you?  You go out and blade your heart out in front of television cameras that are broadcast all over the world, and do you ever care how you look to people then?”

“Alright, alright!  You win, mom,” he smiled somewhat.  “But still, I don’t like Kai enough that way to have a relationship with him; we’re just really close friends, nothing more.”

“We’ll see, Rei.  We’ll see…Mothers know all!” she grinned with her fangs showing before leaning in and kissing his forehead before standing, turning to leave his room.

“Thanks, mom.”

“You’re welcome.  Now get some sleep.”

Despite having that conversation and clearing up some of his emotions and inner turmoil, Rei still couldn’t sleep.  He had to find a substitute for Kai’s body to curl up with.

But nothing seemed to work.  Not his giant fluffy stuffed panda that had been tucked away in his corner for ages, not the clothes that he had worn to bed the night before with Kai’s scent on them…He had even gone so far as to wake up his little sister and ask if she would sleep with him that night.  But nothing worked.  He _needed_ Kai.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Kai spent hours upon hours sighing and growling as he read through the small pile of paperwork with fine print, signing his name away left and right.  Why couldn’t he just have normal grandparents?  Or a normal life for that matter?

He sighed yet again and set his pen aside, said pen rolling off the desk as Kai rested his arms on the wooden table and jarred it just enough to cause the momentum for this to happen to being with.  With a weak sigh with a hint of a growl, he simply watched as it landed on the floor and rolled away a bit, too worn out to retrieve it.

When he was bored, like now, he usually sought out Rei to speak to or just sit with; his presence always seemed to calm him.  But not that he was without Rei, he didn’t know how to deal with his boredom and stress.  His mind then wandered down a dangerous path: how would he deal with it many years down the road if he and Rei were no longer friends?

‘If only he could understand my feelings…’ the thought as he finally stood and padded lazily across the room to the bed, flopping down on his back with his limbs sprawled this way and that as he stared blankly up at the ceiling.  ‘If only I knew how to really express them…’

Too tired and lazy to turn off the light, he simply flung an arm over his eyes and drifted to sleep, Rei haunting his every dream.  It wasn’t fair…

The following morning, he hurriedly signed the last of the paperwork, gathered his few things, and headed out of the hotel and down the snow blanketed streets to make stops at various buildings and establishments, his paper load lessening with each stop.  Finally, some two hours later, he was paper free and was headed to the airport with nothing more than he started with upon his arrival.

He smiled to himself as he trekked through the snow towards the airport, the hotel having only been about a fifteen minute ride away, his crimson eyes darting at the windows with various odds and ends displayed for sale.  This was the best he had felt by himself for as long as he could remember.

He decided to call Rei to let him know that he would soon be on his way, only no one answered.

‘Odd…’ Kai thought, staring curiously at his phone to make sure that he had dialed the right number before placing it in his pocket.

The young Russian booked himself the first flight to China and continually checked his phone, hoping that Rei would call him back.

As he settled himself in a seat in his terminal gate, he called once more, again no one answering.

‘Maybe they’re asleep,’ he mused with a small sigh, setting the phone on his right leg.

So for three hours, he sat and stared at his phone, occasionally glancing at the people passing him.

The boarding had finally begun and Kai was very thankful; he couldn’t resist the urge to try one more time before his boarding zone was called.

“Hello?” came a rather light voice.

“Rei, what’s wrong with you?”

The neko-jin’s eyes winded fractionally as the recognized the voice; he wanted to sound wide awake and happy, like he felt on the inside, but he couldn’t find the strength.

“Kai!  Nothing’s wrong,” he tried, but he still sounded miserable.

“Don’t lie to me,” Kai warned.

“I’m not!  I’m just really tired; I didn’t get much sleep.”

“And why is that?” Kai scolded.  He didn’t need to have one of his teammates ill from sleep deprivation.

Rei blushed, glad that Kai wasn’t there with him to see it.  “I just haven’t been able to is all.”

“Nightmares?”

“No.”

He sighed at the lack of enthusiasm Rei was showing.  “I just wanted to let you know that I’m heading your way shortly; I’m getting on a plane in about five minutes.”

Rei smiled weakly as he pushed himself up in his bed.  “Alright; I’ll let mom know so we can meet you there.”

“I’ll see you in a few hours then; I’m getting on the plane now.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then!”

And with what remaining energy he had left, Rei got up from his bed and ventured down the stairs to find his mother brushing his sister’s hair in the living room while they watched cartoons.

“Kai’s on his way!” he smiled as he now stood next to the couch that his mother was seated on, Kalli on the floor between her knees.

“Good!” Mika breathed as she continued to style her daughter’s hair.  “If he would’ve stayed there another day I was going to knock you out with sleeping pills,” she admitted; she didn’t like seeing her son in such a horrid state of being.  “You’d better go shower and change before we leave.”

Rei nodded and headed back up the stairs to grab some clothes from his room before showering.

As he entered the shower, he had to admit that the hot water felt amazing; it oriented his senses a bit more, rejuvenating him in a way.

He soon found himself lost in thought as to how things would play out when they picked Kai up, what they would do when they got back…

“Rei?” Mika called after a loud pounding on the door.  “You’ve been in there almost an hour!  Are you alright?”

“Are you serious?” he yelped as he quickly turned off the taps and began to wring his long raven tresses.  “I’m fine!  I’ll be out shortly!”

Another fifteen minutes had passed before he had managed to get all the knots out of his hair and braid it.

“You look like you’re ready to go out on a dinner date,” Kalli smirked as her brother came downstairs a few minutes later.

He was dressed in a black silk dress shirt and some comfy dark blue jeans along with a matching black collar around his neck.

“And I don’t think you’re date’s here just yet,” she then went on, dodging her brother as he advanced on her with a playful glare.

Rei hadn’t intended on dressing up for Kai; he just felt like looking extra nice today for some reason…He was entitled that every once in a while.

Mika smiled as she and Kalli joined him at the door where he was pulling his shoes on.  “You _do_ look like you’re ready for a date.”

“Not you too!” he groaned as they headed out the door.

“Why else would you get all dressed up just to pick up a friend from the airport?”

He blushed, jamming his hands in his jean pockets, kicking at the ground as they walked to the car.  The girls he had to deal with…

Once they had left the house, Rei found himself leaning his head against the cool glass of the window as he sat in the backseat, tired once more but still unable to sleep.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to sleep on the way back,” Mika grinned through the mirror at her son, though he didn’t do anything to acknowledge her; he simply continued to stare out the window, glaring tiredly at the rain that seemed to follow him.

And eternity later, they had finally reached the airport, but Rei was too exhausted again to even think about getting out of the car, and so Mika had offered to take Kalli in and look for him.

And he couldn’t help but grin, his head lifting slightly from the window, as he caught sight of the cause of his problems, yet ironically also the solution, heading his way with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder, actually smiling and talking.

But the Russian’s smile faded and his eyes became confused and worried as he seen Rei resting against the door, eyes tired and almost lifeless.

“I knew something was wrong with you!” Kai growled as he entered the backseat from the other door.

“And I told you I couldn’t sleep very well.”

“You mean you actually slept?” Mika asked in a rather shocked tone as she started the car.

“Mom!” he hissed.

Now Kai was really angry with him.  “You haven’t slept?!”

Rei sighed as he finally slumped back into his seat, leaning his head and falling to rest it on Kai’s shoulder; the Russian took no time in wrapping his arms around the teen and squeezing him gently.

“Not since you left,” he admitted, closing his eyes as Kai’s scent filled him to the core.

“Why?”

“I…I ne…” he mumbled, sighing in frustration as his eyebrows furrowed, his mind trying to find the right words.  “I just couldn’t, okay?”

Shaking his head slightly, one of Kai’s hands rested on the top of Rei’s and began to gently stroke his still slightly damp hair.  “Just go to sleep,” he breathed in his ear.  “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

A small, tired smile graced Rei’s lips before his breath finally evened out in sleep.

“Thank goodness!” Make sighed in relief as she watched her now sleeping son wrapped protectively in Kai’s arms.  “He hasn’t slept a wink since we left the airport the other day; he was that worried about you.”

“Worried about me?” he mused, looking down once more at the sleeping teen, finally resting his cheek against the raven locks.

Once they had reached the house, Mika found both teens sound asleep in the backseat, Rei curled up against his friend.

“They’re so in love,” Kalli nodded as she and her mother got out of the car.  “Too bad Rei’s so blind.”

And this, Mika chuckled as she gently shut her door, reaching down to open Kai’s.  “And just what do you know about love, Kalli?”

“Enough to know that this is the person my brother is supposed to be with.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Mika didn’t want to wake them, with as peaceful and content as they looked leaning against one another in sleep, but she knew the rain would only get worse from here and he knew how much her son despised storms.  She also knew that they’d get better rest if they were inside and on a bed rather than sitting up against the seat of a car.

She gently shook Kai a couple times, his head rolling from side to side slightly, before his crimson eyes finally fluttered open.

“I’m sorry, Kai,” she smiled as she crouched down in the open car door a bit more.  “But could you get Rei inside?  It’s going to start storming soon.”

Kai nodded, still blinking the sleep from his eyes.  “Sure.”

She smiled in thanks, eyeing them both as Kai turned to Rei, before standing and heading up the path towards the house.

Kai knew that Mika didn’t want him woken up, seeing as this was the first time in days that he had slept, and so climbed out of the car door after leaning Rei back against the seat before he managed to get him out of the car, into his arms bridal style, and shut the car door with his hip.

As he headed up the path Mika had taken, he looked around the naturescape in awe.  ‘Rei wasn’t kidding when he said I’d like it here…’

As he made his way closer to the house, he took in the sight of the lush flower gardens on either side of him and the tall shady trees surrounding the two story house, secluding into from the world.  Too bad it didn’t do much for the drizzle…

Mika had left the front door open for him; he maneuvered himself and Rei carefully through the threshold and was instantly beckoned by a hyper Kalli.

“Follow me!” she grinned as she started up the stairs; Kai couldn’t help but let his gaze wander from picture to picture on the wall, inwardly smiling at how cute of a child Rei was.  “This is his room.”

She pushed the door open for him, staying for only a few moments to watch Kai lay Rei on his bed like a prince before she vanished back downstairs.

No sooner than Kai had left his side to close the door did Rei start mumbling something and reaching an arm out in Kai’s direction; the Russian couldn’t help but smile.

He took off his and Rei’s shoes before climbing onto the bed next to the amber eyed teen, slowly and carefully removing the black leather collar from around Rei’s neck; he didn’t want to be scraped by the buckle when the other teen would inevitably curl up against him.  He had to admit though, he rather liked the way Rei looked in a collar.

After placing the collar on the nightstand, Kai maneuvered himself and Rei so that Kai was leaning back against the headboard with Rei between his legs on his side, the neko-jin’s head resting on Kai’s chest while pale hands gently roved through his raven hair.

His crimson gaze took in the room of his best friend, noting that Rei liked knick-knacks and apparently giant stuffed pandas that liked sitting in bean bag chairs.

After his examination of the room, his gaze fell back to the teen pawing at his shirt and the raven eyebrows that were furrowed in dream.

Somehow Kai managed to kick the blanket out from under them and lay back fully into the bed while covering them both up, all the while Rei curled tightly against him.

And for hours they slept until sometime late in the night.

It was around 11:30 when Rei’s eyelids began to open, bleary amber eyes focusing on his ‘pillow’ as he pushed himself up a bit, a smile spreading across his lips as he met a pair of crimson eyes.

“How long have you been awake?” Rei asked with a yawn, wanting to settle back down on Kai’s warm body, but resisted for the time being.

Kai shrugged as he propped himself up on his elbows.  “A while.”

“Then why didn’t you wake me up?  You didn’t have to let me use you as a pillow all night…”

“I don’t mind; besides, you needed the sleep.”

Rei blushed faintly and toyed with the hem of the blanket.

“So, enlighten me; why couldn’t you sleep while I was away?”

The neko-jin’s blush deepened as his gaze fell to his sheets.

“Is it that embarrassing?”  Kai knew all too well what it was after what happened when Rei was in his arms; he wasn’t too worried about him to lose sleep.

“Shut up!” Rei hissed softly before sighing, a smile tugging at his lips the whole time.

Admitting that he needed Kai wasn’t something he was ready to do; it really was emabarrassing.

“Can I brush your hair?”

Rei hesitantly looked up at the bluenette, unsure exactly what Kai was trying to prod out of him by doing this.  However, he nodded.

“You want to watch TV while you’re doing it?” the raven haired teen asked as he hesitantly grabbed the brush off his nightstand, handing it to Kai.

“No,” was the simple response he received while Kai waited patiently for Rei to situation himself in front of him.  “Your hair’s plenty entertaining.”

After Rei had settled in a cross legged position in front of Kai with his back to his captain, Kai gently removed the hair tie holding the teen’s braid together, running his fingers from the bottom up to his head as he worked out the still slightly damp raven locks from their styling.

“Why do you grow your hair out?” the crimson eyed teen inquired as he started to run the brush through the length of hair before him.

Rei shrugged, playing with a stray lock of his hair as he stared into nothingness before him.  “From the time I was little, people have always said I’ve had really beautiful hair, and so I guess I just wanted to show it off.  Why?  Do you not like my hair this long?”

For that stupid question he received the back of the brush upside his head.

“What was that for?!” he yelped as he rubbed the slightly sore spot, turning a bit to glare at Kai.

“What do you think it was for?  If you ever even _think_ of cutting your hair I’ll personally kill you and the person that convinced you to do it,” he grunted as he continued his task with loving brush strokes.

Rei then chuckled as he turned to face forward once more.  “You like it that much?”

“No…” Kai said in a semi-sarcastic tone, one that Rei didn’t catch since Kai rarely used it with him.  “I’m just practicing for when I have a girlfriend with really long hair.”

Those words stung Rei; even if he _had_ known that Kai was only joking, he would probably be just as hurt on the inside.  And he couldn’t stop a tear or more as they escaped his eyes and trailed down his cheeks, eventually falling silently from his chin to his sun kissed hands or his clothing.  He still couldn’t wrap his mind around why his feelings were so strong that it brought him to tears when he thought of Kai as nothing more than a really close friend.

However, the slightly shaking shoulders didn’t go unnoticed by Kai, who sighed and set the brush aside before wrapping his arms around the teen before him from behind, his cheek resting in the silky raven hair that smelled like green apples.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying,” he sniffed, angrily rubbing the tears away with the back of his hand.  He was even more agitated as more tears formed and fell against his will as Kai abruptly pulled him backwards by his shoulders so that his head now lay in Kai’s lap.

“Why are you crying?” he repeated in the same caring tone as he stared straight down into watery amber eyes.

“Because I’m scared!” he sobbed before he covered his eyes with his hands, not wanting his captain to see him in such a state.

“Scared of what?”

Rei couldn’t bring himself to say it, that he was afraid of losing Kai to someone else; but he wasn’t in love!

“Rei.”

“I can’t!”

“Rei.”

“No!” he wailed, shaking his head back and forth against Kai’s legs.

A small smile graced Kai’s lips as he reached down and grasped Rei’s wrists, removing his hands from his face.

“Are you scared that I’ll leave you all alone one day?”

Rei’s eye’s widened, his tears seeming to stop for the time being, as he stared up with a slightly scared expression into concerned crimson eyes.  ‘How did he know what I was thinking…?’

“Because I’m scared as hell to even think about watching you walk away with someone else as long as I’m here.”

At hearing this, Rei’s heart pounded even harder in his chest as he quickly sat up, turning to face Kai while drawing his hands to his chest, confusion written all over his face.

And Kai merely stared at him, patiently waiting for something, anything, from his friend.

There was a loud, obnoxious noise that suddenly echoed through the room, drawing both sets of eyes to the slotted door of Rei’s closet, Kalli bursting out of it a few moments later as she had blown her cover.  She made a quick dash to the door, but was thwarted in her escape as Rei easily caught her in his arms.

“What are you doing in here?” he growled as he turned her to face him despite his tear streaked face.

“What does it look like?” she smiled innocently.  “I wanted to see for myself.”

“See what?”

“How deep in denial you are.”

“I told you earlier to stop with that!” he hissed, his eyes narrowed.

“Why do you keep denying what you feel?”

“I’m not!”

“Yes you are!”

As the pair argued, Kai sat and watched for a few moments before he decided that he had had enough.

“Rei,” he then suddenly cut in, drawing the neko-jin’s attention away from Kalli long enough for her to escape.  “Mika already told me.”

“Told you what?” he asked, his hands frozen in midair from where he had been holding his sister as he turned terrified amber eyes to Kai.  Had his mother really betrayed him like that?

“That you can’t sleep without me; that you don’t understand your own feelings…”

Rei was torn, to say the least, as his hands fell back to his sides, his face suddenly downcast.  His mother really had told him.

“Do you know how many nights I’ve just laid there and smiled while running my fingers through your hair while you slept, hoping and praying to something I don’t believe in that you would stay by my side forever?  Do you know how much I want those rumors about us being together to be true?  Do you understand that I drop my mask only for you, Rei?” he said, his own crimson gaze locked to the blanket, oblivious to the look he was currently given from his slightly trembling friend.  “You’ve dealt with emotions your whole life, so you shouldn’t be denying anything.  I’m just learning to feel again, and I’ve come to face with the fact that I’m falling for you, Rei.”

Rei didn’t know what to do; he didn’t know if he should be comforting the distraught young man on his bed or running away.  He didn’t want to hear the things from his friend’s mouth; he didn’t want to believe them!  He couldn’t face himself yet, let alone Kai’s confession and emotions as well.

As they sat in silence for some time, Rei unmoving from his spot at the foot of his bed, the neko-jin unexpectedly jumped as his eyes turned even more afraid as a flash of lightning illuminated the room before leaving everything in total darkness.

“Rei,” he heard the soft voice call to him in the darkness, another flash lighting the room momentarily before he could only faintly make out Rei’s form.  “If you want me by your side during the storm, I’m here for you.  I’ll always be here for you, and only you.  If you don’t want to hear me say these things, then tell me now,” he murmured as he shifted on the bed, edging his way off the side.

“I…I d…” he shuttered, closing his eyes tight against the storm that was rumbling outside his haven.  His mind was so muddled with everything going on that it took him several tries to get any coherent words out.  “I don’t…” he tried once more, falling to his knees as he hugged himself with his back to the window.  “I don’t know what I want anymore, Kai.  I’m so confused…”

“Do you want me by your side, Rei?”

“Yes,” he breathed, shaking from head to toe, trying to hold in his tears.

His eyes snapped open as he felt Kai’s warm arms wrap around him as he was joined on the floor before he was pulled into the strong chest of his friend.

“What are you so confused about?”

“Everything,” he breathed as he relaxed into the embrace, his fingers gently wrapping in the fabric of Kai’s shirt.

Had Rei wanted to elaborate any further, he wouldn’t have had the chance.

In one swift, fluid motion, Kai had gently grasped Rei’s chin and pressed his lips to the shocked neko-jin’s.

Rei didn’t know what was going on anymore; he didn’t understand why it felt so natural for Kai’s lips to be on his own, for it to be so natural that he willingly returned the kiss and wrapped his arms around Kai’s neck, pulling him closer as he whimpered against his mouth, wincing from the storm howling outside.

“Don’t ever leave me, Kai!” he cried once they broke apart a few wonderful moments later, his forehead falling to rest on Kai’s shoulder as the other held him for all he was worth.  “Don’t leave me…”

With that one, simple, unexpected kiss, everything suddenly made sense.  He couldn’t and didn’t understand anything because he didn’t want to understand anything; he wanted to turn everything inside out with questions instead of wondering what would happen if it were to be true.

With that one blissful, emotion filled kiss, he knew what everything seemed so natural, so right.

He had fallen, long ago.


End file.
